The University of Iowa's Multidisciplinary Lung Research Career Development Program will train highly motivated pre and postdoctoral trainees for innovative and significant careers in lung disease research. The Program will offer trainees a curriculum that includes structured coursework and provides basic and clinical research training, close supervision and guidance by a multidisciplinary group of mentors, and the opportunity to train in a variety of University research disciplines, including those traditionally underrepresented in lung research training such as radiology, nursing, and pediatrics. Trainees will also have access to the breadth of resources and facilities that make the University of Iowa a top-ranked institution in lung health science research, including a number of well-funded multidisciplinary research programs. As there are few disciplinary barriers for lung research and training at Iowa, close relationships have developed between investigators and trainees allowing trainees to choose the most appropriate mentors all trainees must interview with some potential mentors outside of their own discipline. The success of our training program is due to a number of factors. One important reason for our success is that we continue to attract successful investigators to the Iowa research community (as an example, four of the six Co-Pi's are new since the last submission of the T-32). These investigators are attracted to Iowa because of the highly interactive nature of and support from the lung research community. The underlying discipline of the investigator is not an impediment for close interactions with other lung researchers. These investigators are also very interested in training the next generation of lung scientists. Another reason for our success is a critical mass of trainees. Not only is the training program comprised of multidisciplinary and highly interactive role models, the trainees also find role models among themselves and support for their career development (they, themselves, form a community of lung research trainees). (End of Abstract)